Do schools have to discipline students who join gun-control protests?

Students across the county say they're determined to make a statement March 14 by walking out of their schools in a show of support for stricter gun laws — but how should schools react?

As districts contemplate how to handle the planned 17-minute demonstration — one minute for each person killed last month in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida — agencies are weighing in on how schools should protect both students' safety and their right to political action.

"For local school boards, the demonstrations raise issues of school attendance, the board’s discipline policies, students’ right to free speech and, above all else, safety,” Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, the executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, said in a guidance document for districts.

Here are some questions districts might be asking and how the NJSBA and other organizations suggest they be handled:

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Students from Ann Street School in Newark sent decorated hearts to students in Parkland, Florida, as they prepared to return to school Feb. 28 after a gunman killed 17 students and teachers. (Courtesy of Newark Public Schools)

Do schools have to discipline students who walk out?

Not necessarily.

Schools could create an educational event, like a forum for expressing concerns, around the walkout, the NJSBA says. They could also allow students to participate in the walkout with a strictly enforced requirement that they return to class right afterward. That way, the students wouldn't be breaking any rules.

The NJSBA advises districts they can tell students clearly they have permission to participate in this walkout only and not necessarily for future demonstrations.

If a school doesn't want to authorize the protest, the NJSBA says, officials can tell students their participation will be considered an unexcused absence if district policy classifies it that way.

Schools can discipline you for missing class. They can't punish you with a harsher punishment for protesting than for another reason. If your school does that, the ACLU wants to hear from you. #StudentsStandUphttps://t.co/SvFOl0uZjZ